ENGLISH Heritage has confirmed some jobs may be at risk in York and North Yorkshire under its proposals to shut most of its attractions on winter weekdays.

The Press revealed on Saturday how attractions including Clifford’s Tower, Whitby Abbey, Scarborough Castle, Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey, near Helmsley, are all affected by winter closure, which is being planned because of a 32 per cent cut in future Government funding. They will only open at weekends from November 1 until March 31.

An English Heritage spokesman said yesterday there would be an inevitable impact on staff at properties with reduced winter opening times.

“Around 270 staff are employed in visitor operations roles during the winter period,” he said.

“This equates to 187 full-time equivalent posts, as 37 per cent of staff are part time. For the North of England, the potential impact would be on 52 members of staff.”

He said the organisation would be exploring all options for minimising the impact and was consulting staff on achieving this.

“One option would be for staff to be employed on an ‘annualised hours’ contract, where we would split their pay equally over 12 months so that they have a consistent income,” he said.